May 22nd, 2009

Nine worst social media fails of 2009... thus far

Posted by Jennifer Leggio @ 9:26 am

Categories: Brand Management and Monitoring, Branding, Corporate Social Networking, Customer Loyalty, Marketing, Public Relations, Reputation and Privacy, Snake Oil, Social Business, Social Business Case Studies, Social Media, Social Media Best Practices

Tags: Pizza Hut, Brand, Stunt, Social Media, Twitter, Motrin, Nannerpuss, Jack, Skittles Home Page, Ashton Kutcher

Motrin
The most interesting fail with the Motrin situation, from my perspective, is how the backlash was handled. While the offending situation occurred in late 2008, the backlash has carried into 2009. Motrin posted some videos on its Web site which claimed that moms who do “babywearing” might need Motrin because let’s face it, kids can be heavy. However, it’s tongue-in-cheek approach to this add enraged a legion of “mommybloggers” who found the ad offensive, stating that it implied that mothers resent their children for causing them pain. Motrin immediately pulled the ad and issued a formal, very professional apology, but the backlog continued. While Motrin took some hits (though none in sales, I imagine) the majority of the fail here was on the part of the “mommybloggers,” who inadvertently rebranded themselves as an irrational lynch mob.

Next: Denny’s –>

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